It was a long hard journey for the Great Smoky Mountains to become a national park. Unlike other national parks in the U.S. the Smokies contained many farmers that owned the land, and getting them to sell their family’s homestead to the government was not an easy task. There was also argument about whether the Smokies should be a national park or a national forest. It wasn’t until President Cooliage signed a bill in 1926 that provided the establishment of the national park as soon as 150,000 acres of land was bought. The first superintendent arrived in the park in 1931 and by 1934 the park had purchased 300,000 acres of land. After the long anticipation, the park was formally dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940. This ceremony let the nation know that this park was for them.
